The Rec Center #190
Hello and congratulations to AO3 on this momentous occasion of winning an actual, for-real Hugo Award! This week we’ve got posts about cosplay squads and the potentially spambot-fueled #SaveSpiderMan campaign, along with a rec list of sitcom fanfic including an EPIC new Schitt’s Creek story. — Gav
new stuff
“The Friends Who All Cosplay the Same Character” by Julie Beck at The Atlantic
“You see a lot of cliques in the cosplay community ... But what’s been nice about our friendship is that there’s never any competition.”
“China’s fan-girl culture is mobilizing against the Hong Kong protests” by Youyou Zhou at Quartz
A very interesting look at the intersections between online fandom dynamics and language, nationalism, propaganda, and the Hong Kong protests.
“The #SaveSpiderMan hashtag is full of pro-Disney spam accounts” by Gav at The Daily Dot
In the wake of a dispute between Disney and Sony, it looks like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man may no longer appear in the MCU. Fans are mad about it, resulting in some hashtag campaigns with a strong anti-Sony sentiment. But if you look closer at some of those trending tweets, they look suspiciously like the kind of spam network we’ve seen trying to influence elections.
older stuff
“The Abridged History of Disney, 2015-2040 AD” by Chris Plante at The Verge
We included this piece, the truest encapsulation of our culture today, when the Disney takeover of Fox was finalized this past spring. It felt like...a good time...to revisit….
tumblr & beyond
Yuri!! on Ice fairytale art by Sheepskeleton
“Imagine if porgs were in ancient Roman pastoral poetry.”
“the Doctor is actually so named because he wrote and successfully defended a dissertation at an accredited university whereas the Master completed a 2-year graduate program”
“Countless times, I have mocked figures in Greek mythology for daring to think themselves the equals or betters of gods...”
Mrs Weasley to a tee.
“my friend said ‘Aziraphale’ sounded like the name of an antidepressant so obviously i had to spend all morning making this fake commercial”
fanfiction
This week we’ve got a multi-fandom list of fic from comedies, a genre that tends to get a lot less fanfictional interest than others (which is weird because many of them set up new situations every week! It’s perfect for us. Who knows lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). Thank you to everyone who sent in a guest rec. — Elizabeth
“Hand in Unlovable Hand” (series) by Annakovsky. 29K words across 2 works, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Veep; Ship: Amy Brookheimer/Dan Egan
Recced by: Orangistae
Backstory: Dan and Amy get drunk-married in Vegas and decide to run with it for the sake of their careers, then accidentally get pregnant and are shocked to find their sham marriage turning into the real thing.
Rec: This series is really fun and perfectly captures the appeal of the characters. The contrast between Dan and Amy’s cynicism and the wholesome image that they’re trying to project is delightful, and they’re so in tune with each other’s awfulness that it’s actually kind of sweet, even when they’re not accidentally having an emotion.
Content warnings: N/A
“As Frightened As You” by kathryne. 4.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Grace and Frankie; Ship: gen, pre-Grace/Frankie
Recced by: Set
Backstory: This is a picture-perfect coda to the end of season 4.
Rec: Funny, wistful, and Grace and Frankie facing everything together.
Content warnings: N/A
“Metal Heart” by kartography. 24K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: How I Met Your Mother; Ship: Robin/Barney
Recced by: Karen
Backstory: I will forever remain bitter about how the show did Robin and Barney—this is always and forever my canon.
Rec: Amazing writing, perfect character voices, and super hot sex scenes.
Content warnings: N/A
“something strange in your neighborhood” by paraserpiente. 18K words, rated Explicit.
Fandoms: Brooklyn Nine-Nine & Ghostbusters (2016) crossover; Ship: Rosa Diaz/Jillian Holtzmann
Recced by: Ella
Backstory: Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s most badass cop meets the Ghostbusters’ most badass (or, at least, most dgaf) scientist, and sparks fly.
Rec: This is the kind of crossover pairing that you’d never think of, until you do, and then you can’t stop thinking about it. This fic is funny, hot, and builds a surprisingly compelling plot to brings the two worlds together.
Content warning: Graphic depictions of violence
“A Fair Return” by thingswithwings. 237K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Schitt’s Creek; Ship: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Takes place over the course of seasons 3-5, this fic goes deep on Patrick’s perspective as he first moves to Schitt’s Creek, comes to terms with his sexuality, and falls in love with David.
Rec: Like Thingswithwings’ Captain America epic “Known Associates,” this fic is all about queer identity and culture. While the show focuses on the Rose family with Patrick as a supporting character, Patrick is the protagonist here, with key roles for his housemate/landlord Ray, Ronnie, David, and a handful of OCs. It’s both a heartfelt story about coming out late in life, and a clever take on the “queer utopia” concept of the show, positing that Schitt’s Creek does actually exist in our own universe, but is unusually queer-friendly because Ronnie nurtured a queer community around herself over a period of 20 years.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
In case you’ve been in a social media blackout or something this past week (actually that doesn’t sound so bad), the Archive of Our Own won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work! The AO3 has posted Naomi Novik’s acceptance speech on their site if you haven’t read it yet. <3 — Elizabeth
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, zines, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list, explainer, or ship manifesto, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)